Articles vs Colonial

During 1763 to 1776, Great Britain continued to shift their financial burden from the French and Indian War to the thirteen colonies. The Stamp Act of 1765, which taxed all legal documents, newspapers and other documents, outraged colonists and usurped the self-taxation by the thirteen colonies. The British and the colonists both did not have interest in creating a colonial delegation to Parliament. The British argued that the colonists were already represented in Parliament, basing their case on the theory of virtual representation, which stated that members of Parliament regarded the United States by the rule of mercantilism, and expected it to pay for itself. This meant that all parts of the States had to contribute revenue to the costs of running the British Empire, and also to obey certain basic rules that applied to everybody. The colonists felt that it was wrong for Parliament to impose laws and particularly taxes on them, since they were not represented in Parliament. The "no taxation without representation" argument was put forward because the colonists were neglected in the voting of Parliament matters and had no representation. They argued for either representation in Parliament or a greater degree of self-government for the colonies. All of the acts passed by Great Britain left the colonists feeling insecure and imposed some form of burden upon the colonies. The colonists felt that King George did not care about them but instead their money. Thus because of the unjust acts that Britain passed, the role of levying of taxes was forbidden by the national government under the Articles of Confederation. Congress couldn't collect taxes from colonists and could only request money from the States. Not issuing taxes was impotent for the American government because without money, there were no funds to support armed forces or to help fix the national debt. The national government couldn't pay American soldiers who had fought in the war and citizens who had provided supplies to the cause during the American Revolution. Congress had no power over interstate or foreign commerce; only the States could impose tariffs and issue thirteen different kinds of paper money. During the Revolution, Congress had printed such an incredibly large sum of money to finance the war that the national paper money was so inflated it was virtually worthless. The government promised to redeem the bills with money from future taxes. However, since Congress did not have the authority to tax, the value of the dollar plunged causing inflation which led to Shays' Rebellion. Because farm prices and wages plummeted, farmers didn't have the money to pay off their mortgages on their farms and other debts from the produce that they farmed. Thus, they advocated to the State senate to halt foreclosure of mortgages and issue paper money as a result of high land taxes. Shay's Rebellion showed emphasized the weakness of the Articles of Confederation and that the states were too democratic in nature. It also showed how the national government needed to take charge and be granted more power in order to take better care of their people.

Although the Articles of Confederation was an effort to meet the political needs after the Revolution, there were many problems with the constitution. State and federal relationships and tax problems were unsuccessfully tackled during British rule and Articles of Confederation period mainly due to the lack of a central government. The States based their fear of a national government with too much power to the formation of a constitution, leading to problematic situations such as Shay's Rebellion. However, the mistakes created through both the Colonial Era and Articles of Confederation time period left behind lessons that helped form a strong, effective government in the future, and essentially portals of discovery.